When my husband and I moved from our last house, we left behind a great community of friends. I miss the school I worked at, the lake at the heart of town, and this amazing little teriyaki place. When I was pregnant with our second child, we frequented this little hole-in-the-wall more often than I care to admit. It was in a little strip mall at the edge of town -tucked between a Subway and a dry cleaners….and it had the most amazing food.

Since moving, we’ve yet to find another teriyaki place that serves anything similar. I knew I needed to come up with my own recipe. This recipe satisfies my craving for teriyaki noodles, and is super-easy to throw together – even on a busy weeknight. Using ingredients that are typically on-hand, this simple recipe can help curb some of your cravings without shelling out money for take-out.

This is kid-friendly at our house, as I can easily make the dish with vegetables everyone likes.

Teriyaki Noodle Bowl

Ingredients

1.5 lbs chicken (*Use the amount of chicken your family will need. I typically use 2 chicken breasts, and a handful of boneless skinless chicken thighs. I like the combination of light and dark meat in this recipe.)

1 bag frozen vegetables (*There are a TON of great stir-fry blends available. I used a bag that contained yellow carrots, broccoili, and peppers. Use what YOU like!)

1 16oz. package spaghetti

1/3 cup soy sauce(*We feel like this dish is better when you use a low sodium soy sauce.) I don’t typically measure my soy sauce. A little more or a little less won’t hurt.

1/4 cup brown sugar (*I like sweet teriyaki, so I always add a bit more.)

1 cup chicken stock

*If I have fresh ginger on hand, sometimes I will grate a few teaspoons, and add that to my sauce.

To Prepare

1. Cut your chicken into small bite-sized pieces, and brown in a large skillet. Once cooked through, remove the chicken and set aside.

2. Cook the spaghetti as directed on package.*I like to multi-task, and set my water to boil while the chicken is cooking.

3. In the same pan you cooked the chicken, dump in the bag of frozen veggies and the chicken stock. Once the veggies are beginning to thaw, add the chicken.

4. Add the soy sauce and brown sugar to the meat and veggie mixture. *I like to let the mix cook for several minutes, and then taste a piece of chicken or a veggie, and adjust my flavors. Add more stock, soy, or sugar as you see fit. You could also add red pepper flakes if you wanted to spice it up a bit.

5. Drain the spaghetti and add the noodles to the meat and veggie mixture. Don’t add all of the noodles at once. *I typically end up with some plain noodles left-over. Add a little at a time, stirring the mixture as you go, making sure there is enough sauce to adequately coat the noodles.

6. Eat and enjoy!

This meal comfortably feeds my family of 2 adults and four children. You can easily adjust the amount of ingredients to accommodate for more/less people.